HOW ARE YOU AMERICAN? Our summer reading, The Color of Water, is an excellent text to start our course insomuch as the narrator struggles to reconcile his parents history with his own sense of self. Having a black father and a white mother, where does our narrator belong in a racially charged and increasingly polarized society? We will use this story to explore the way in which we, too, embody similar complexities and seeming contradictions that arise when we ask ourselves, "How am I an American?"

MONDAY

Introduction to America as a contradiction. How is it possible to be one thing and the exact opposite at the same time? After a short introduction to the course, students will brainstorm a list of ways in which they embody seeming contradictions.
HW: Write a short answer to the question, "What does 'mixed race' mean?" Have your written response prepared for class tomorrow.

TUESDAY

Taking pictures of students for gradebook, reviewing handout practices, discussing course expectations (and collecting them), and then introducting how to use our squarespace classroom blog. What does it mean to be "mixed race"?
HW: After typing and submitting your answer to last night's question as a comment to the mixed race blog, read other responses and post two follow-up questions to your peers's comments.

WEDNESDAY

Checking students's names and pronunciation, and then discussing procedures for posting on Squarespace. Short discussion on "mixed-race" and what that means. Then beginning to discuss "The Sound of My Name is a Revolution."
HW: Re-read the poem tonight, annotating for what you notice in the poem in the margins.

THURSDAY

Short discussion of the poem. We will then utilize a google sheet to share notes on how the main characters struggle with their seemingly contradictory identities. What is the author saying about American duality via these stories?
HW: Finish examining the summer reading for passages about duality or contradiction, relative to identity.

FRIDAY

Working on the creation of a google-sheet of passages relating to dual-identity and contradictory traits from our summer reading.
HW: If you haven't finished the summer reading, make sure you've done that by class on Tuesday.